The two week wait went by slowly, but Billy and I were busy with other things like having those windows installed. And when March 12 did roll along, we actually couldn’t order that day- we forgot to bring something with us that would have saved us $75! So, we had to come back a few days later, and then we bought the whole thing, and came home with a bag of kitchen handles. Billy even got an IKEA credit card. The kitchen needed to be ordered, and will be delivered probably sometime next week. Then the adventure/drama begins.

We don’t know how to even hang a picture correctly on a wall, and now we are attempted to put together and install a kitchen. Hmm… we shall see how that all turns out very soon… For people who don’t cook, we’re kind of super anxious to get one!

For the kitchen, the design will be modern and clean. Buying from IKEA pretty much takes care of that bit. We went with Nexus brown cabinets, and will purchase a white countertop from Home Depot near the end of installation. Will have stainless steel and black appliances (yay new stove! new microwave with buttons that work! fridge with ICE MAKER!), along with brushed silver cabinet handles. I loved the main light fixture in the old kitchen, so we’re keeping that, but considering cool lights installed under the overhead cabinets.

What I am referring to is one of the most important parts of our home renovation: windows! (We haven’t even touched the kitchen yet… we’ll get there one day.) Billy and I bought the house because we each loved specific parts of the architecture. I loved the ceilings. Billy loved the back windows in the living room. Unfortunately, those windows were pure vintage, original to the house when the room was a sun room. Just as a reference, this is how the living room windows used to look. It was one whole wall of windows, and something you don’t even realize is that one part of the living room’s wood paneling also covers windows on another wall. You can kind of tell what kind of windows they were in this picture- I don’t even know how to spell the correct term for them, but the slats opened up with a hand crank.

There was so much window to replace! And it was so expensive! But completely worth it. The first round of window installation covered most of the windows in the living quarters like bedrooms and our bathroom. Then we had to wait until we applied for a home loan in order to complete the massive back wall, and also get two doors installed. We are a few days away from the doors being completed, but the windows are DONE. And beautiful! It looks lovely.

This last picture is of our butterfly chairs being battered by the weather. Both times windows were installed, the rain simply decided to pour itself all over Central Florida.

This is our very first picture of our family in our new home! This is in the guest bedroom, and of course, we’ve got our computers out first thing, and the lump on the bed to the right is Dylan. He had a hard time adjusting, so he spent the first few days hiding like that.

 

Here are some more random pictures of what we’ve been up to. I’ll try to keep updating on our Flickr account. All in all, pretty proud that we even got moved in at all (that last week in our old house was insane for packing). Got a lot to do in the near future! Paint everything else, put all away, plan a kitchen, probably build more Ikea furniture.

Our junk/possessions in our living room. And this is only some of it- we donated A LOT to the Salvation Army during the move.

Our non-kitchen! Billy’s uncle and his friend ripped it out for us because we wanted to have the floors refinished before our kitchen reno. It was awesome! (And we are barely making do with a toaster oven, microwave, and kettle… kind of miss ovens now.)

Our new toilet! I wouldn’t actually use the bathroom until we got a new toilet sans old lady toilet arm thingys.

I’m making my Ikea Knappa. It’s sad when you start calling Ikea items by their real names… it means you’ve memorized that they are.

Billy putting together our new dresser to hold our TV. Taking a rest to pet Dylan.

Dylan’s cat tree in the guest bedroom.

 

The first room I put together- the pink guestroom! How girly.

Our bedroom. Love our headboard. We have so much from IKEA, this is the MALM in oak.

 

Current landing strip featuring Billy’s really old bookcase and a 25 cent letter sorter.

 

*I will refrain from titles such as this one in the future… hopefully.

Going to keep this mural, for sure.

Have to decide if we’re keeping the toilet arm handles or not…

My walk-in closet! It’s the size of our current rental home bathroom!

Castoff/future vanity.

Found these in the carport storage, wrapped up in bubble wrap in a Macy’s bag. They were completely new, so it was like getting a house warming gift!

You can see just a tiny bit of the previous owner in this picture. She’s in her electric wheelchair to the very left.

Old lady toilet!

Billy and I looked at many homes. We even bid on a home before we got this one, but that fell through (that one was a beautiful home, though!). Surprisingly, this was the very first house we looked at with our realtor, Jennifer Staubly with Discover Homes Orlando. Throughout our entire house searching process, it stayed in our top three. In the end, even though it is a small house, we/I just had to have it. Here are the specs: 1954 built, 2 bedroom/1 bath, awesome wood beam ceilings, large backyard, carport, terrazo floors, brick indoor planter, pink bathroom. The original asking price was $199,000, dropped down further to $155,000 the day we bid, purchased for $123,700 (<– I chose that crazy number!). It was a bargain for the neighborhood, especially since the MLS listed the incorrect square footage and it was filled with old lady stuffs, which I am personally okay with.

We’ve got lots of plans for the new house, and we hope to have everyone over one day soon! In the meantime, we need to start packing!

After I moved in with my grandparents, I experienced the kind of crazy freedom that results in a mad obsession with buying cheap things en masse, and then leaving those things on the floor. It doesn’t seem like an Ali-thing, and I never realized it fully, but I am not the cleanest person in the world. I am a shopaholic who only cares about the hoarding side of things. I love the organization of favored items, like categorizing my dresses or my nail polish, but that’s on a good day when I’m actually inspired. Billy is similar to me in insiration. We lack it in the house department, but he craves neatness more than I do. So we clash at times on that front. My clothes are still in piles, as they have been since I was in high school. But, umm, my sewing area is clean, and that’s good enough for me.

Spring is upon us, however, and I am itching to feel completely moved in now that we’ve renewed the lease on our house for a second year. That means putting away my clothes, and not just cleaning a small spot off my desk. It’s not about my random things anymore, it’s about us. And that means I should do some dishes, lol.